Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Technological Trends in the Acheulean of Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa

  • Original Article
  • Published:
African Archaeological Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The assemblage of stone tools from P. Beaumont’s Excavation 1 at Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape Province, South Africa, provides a unique stratified sequence covering a large part of the Earlier Stone Age. A combination of cosmogenic burial age and paleomagnetic age dating provides limited chronometric constraint on this sequence. The Wonderwerk sequence provides evidence for the development of Earlier Stone Age technology in southern Africa that parallels the sequence known from East Africa. This paper presents a technological discussion of biface technology at Wonderwerk Cave as well as an overview of the associated lithic assemblage.

Résumé

L’assemblage lithique provenant des fouilles de P. Beaumont à la Grotte de Wonderwerk, Province du Cap du Nord, Afrique du Sud, présente une séquence stratifiée unique couvrant la plupart du Earlier Stone Age. Un programme de datation par isotopes cosmogenique et paleomagnetisme nous donnes un dégrée du contraint chronométrique sur cette séquence. La séquence de Wonderwerk donne des indices d’un développement de la technologie au cours d’Earlier Stone Age en Afrique du Sud parallèle à la séquence connue en Afrique d’Est. Cette article présent une étude technologique des bifaces a Wonderwerk aussi bien qu’un vue d’ensemble de l’assemblage lithique.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Archer, W., & Braun, D. R. (2010). Variability in bifacial technology at Elandsfontein, Western Cape, South Africa: A geometric morphometric approach. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(1), 201–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barsky, D., Chapon-Sao, C., Bahain, J. J., Beyene, Y., Cauche, D., Celiberti, V., Desclaux, E., de Lumley, H., de Lumley, M. A., Marchal, F., Moulle, P. E., & Pleurdeau, D. (2011). The early Oldowan stone-tool assemblage from Fejej FJ-1A, Ethiopia. Journal of African Archaeology, 9(2), 207–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaumont, P. B., & Vogel, J. C. (2006). On a timescale for the past million years of human history in central South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 102(5–6), 217–228.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, L. R., Lacruz, R., & De Ruiter, D. J. (2002). Revised age estimates of Australopithecus‐bearing deposits at Sterkfontein, South Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 119(2), 192–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berna, F., Goldberg, P., Horwitz, L. K., Brink, J., Holt, S., Bamford, M. & Chazan, M. (2012). Microstratigraphic evidence of in situ fire in the Acheulean strata of Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape province, South Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, E1215–E1220.

  • Beyene, Y., Katoh, S., WoldeGabriel, G., Hart, W. K., Uto, K., Sudo, M., & Asfaw, B. (2013). The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(5), 1584–1591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Binneman, J., & Beaumont, P. (1992). Use-wear analysis of two Acheulean handaxes from Wonderwerk Cave, Northern Cape. South African Field Archaeology, 1, 92–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boëda, E. (2013). Techno-logique & Technologie: Une Paleo-histoire des objets lithiques tranchants. Paris: Archeo-Editions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brink, J. S., Herries, A. I., Moggi-Cecchi, J., Gowlett, J. A., Bousman, C. B., Hancox, J. P., Grün, R., Eisenmann, V., Adams, J. W., & Rossouw, L. (2012). First hominine remains from a ∼1.0 million year old bone bed at Cornelia-Uitzoek, Free State Province, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 63(3), 527–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruxelles, L., Clarke, R. J., Maire, R., Ortega, R., & Stratford, D. (2014). Stratigraphic analysis of the Sterkfontein StW 573 Australopithecus skeleton and implications for its age. Journal of Human Evolution, 70, 36–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canfield, D. E., (2005). The early history of atmospheric oxygen. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 33, 1–36.

  • Chazan, M., & Horwitz, L. K. (2009). Milestones in the development of symbolic behaviour: A case study from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. World Archaeology, 41(4), 521–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chazan, M., Ron, H., Matmon, A., Porat, N., Goldberg, P., Yates, R., Avery, M., Sumner, A., & Horwitz, L. K. (2008). Radiometric dating of the Earlier Stone Age sequence in excavation I at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa: Preliminary results. Journal of Human Evolution, 55(1), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chazan, M., Avery, D. M., Bamford, M. K., Berna, F., Brink, J., Fernandez-Jalvo, Y., Goldber, P., Holt, S., Matmon, A., Porat, N., Ron, H., Rossouw, L., Scott, L., & Horwitz, L. K. (2012a). The Oldowan horizon in Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa): Archaeological, geological, paleontological and paleoclimatic evidence. Journal of Human Evolution, 63(6), 859–866.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chazan, M., Wilkins, J., Morris, D., & Berna, F. (2012b). Bestwood 1: A newly discovered Earlier Stone Age living surface near Kathu, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Antiquity, 86(331).

  • Chevrier, B. (2012). Les assemblages à pièces bifaciales au Pléistocène inférieur et moyen ancient en Afrique d’Est et au Proche Orient. Ph.D. Thesis, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense.

  • Cornell, D. H., Schütte, S. S., & Eglington, B. L. (1996). The Ongeluk basaltic and site formation in Griqualand West, South Africa: Submarine alteration in a 2222 Ma Proterozoic sea. Precambrian Research, 79(1), 101–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de la Torre, I. (2011). The early Stone Age lithic assemblages of Gadeb (Ethiopia) and the Developed Oldowan/early Acheulean in East Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 60(6), 768–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de la Torre, I., Mora, R., & Martínez-Moreno, J. (2008). The early Acheulean in Peninj (Lake Natron, Tanzania). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 27(2), 244–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diez-Martín, F., Sánchez Yustos, P., Gómez de la Rúa, D., Gómez González, J. Á., de Luque, L., & Barba, R. (2014). Early Acheulean technology at Es2-Lepolosi (ancient MHS-Bayasi) in Peninj (Lake Natron, Tanzania). Quaternary International, 322, 209–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Alcalá, L., & Luque, L. (Eds.). (2009). Peninj: A research project on human origins 1995–2005. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallotti, R. (2013). An older origin for the Acheulean at Melka Kunture (Upper Awash, Ethiopia): Techno-economic behaviours at Garba IVD. Journal of Human Evolution, 65(5), 594–620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallotti, R., Collina, C., Raynal, J. P., Kieffer, G., Geraads, D., & Piperno, M. (2010). The early Middle Pleistocene site of Gombore II (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia) and the issue of Acheulean bifacial shaping strategies. African Archaeological Review, 27(4), 291–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbon, R. J., Granger, D. E., Kuman, K., & Partridge, T. C. (2009). Early Acheulean technology in the Rietputs Formation, South Africa, dated with cosmogenic nuclides. Journal of Human Evolution, 56(2), 152–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbon, R. J., Pickering, T. R., Sutton, M. B., Heaton, J. L., Kuman, K., Clarke, R. J., Brain, C. L., & Granger, D. E. (2014). Cosmogenic nuclide burial dating of hominin-bearing Pleistocene cave deposits at Swartkrans, South Africa. Quaternary Geochronology, 24, 10–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granger, D. E., & Muzikar, P. F. (2001). Dating sediment burial with in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides: Theory, techniques, and limitations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 188(1), 269–281.

    Google Scholar 

  • Granger, D. E., Gibbon, R. J., Kuman, K., Clarke, R. J., Bruxelles, L., & Caffee, M. W. (2015). New cosmogenic burial ages for Sterkfontein Member 2 Australopithecus and Member 5 Oldowan. Nature, 522, 85–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg, P., Berna, F., & Chazan, M. (2015). Deposition and diagenesis in the Earlier Stone Age of Wonderwerk Cave, Excavation 1, South Africa. African Archaeological Review, 32(4). doi:10.1007/s10437-015-9192-9.

  • Herries, A. I. (2011). A chronological perspective on the Acheulian and its transition to the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa: The question of the Fauresmith. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 2011.

  • Herries, A. I., & Shaw, J. (2011). Palaeomagnetic analysis of the Sterkfontein palaeocave deposits: Implications for the age of the hominin fossils and stone tool industries. Journal of Human Evolution, 60(5), 523–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz, L. K., & Chazan, M. (2014). An overview of recent research at Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Proceedings of the 2010 Joint Meeting of the Panafrican Archaeological Congress and the Society of Africanist Archaeologists, Dakar, Senegal. November 2–4, 2010.

  • Horwitz, L. K. & Chazan, M. (2015). Past and present at Wonderwerk Cave (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). African Archaeological Review, 32(4). doi:10.1007/s10437-015-9208-5.

  • Inskeep, R. R. (1969). Some problems relating to the Early Stone Age in South Africa. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 24(95/96), 174–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isaac, G. L. (1972). Early phases of human behaviour: Models in Lower Palaeolithic archaeology. In D. L. Clarke (Ed.), Models in archaeology (pp. 167–199). London: Methuen. (Reprinted in B. Isaac (Ed.), The Archaeology of Human Origins: Papers by Glynn Isaac, 1989, (pp. 13–36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

  • Keller, C. M. (1973). Montagu Cave in prehistory: A descriptive analysis. Oakland: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimura, Y. (2002). Examining time trends in the Oldowan technology at Beds I and II, Olduvai Gorge. Journal of Human Evolution, 43(3), 291–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, R. G. (2000). The Earlier Stone Age of southern Africa. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 55(172), 107–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuman, K., & Clarke, R. J. (2000). Stratigraphy, artefact industries and hominid associations for Sterkfontein, Member 5. Journal of Human Evolution, 38(6), 827–847.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuman, K., & Field, A. S. (2009). The Oldowan industry from Sterkfontein caves, South Africa. In K. Schick & N. Toth (Eds.), The cutting edge: New approaches to the archaeology of human origins (pp. 151–169). Gosport: Stone Age Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, M. D. (1971). Olduvai Gorge, excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963 (vol. 3). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, M., & Roe, D. (Eds.). (1994). Olduvai Gorge: Volume 5, excavations in Beds III, IV and the Masek Beds (vol. 5). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lepre, C. J., Roche, H., Kent, D. V., Harmand, S., Quinn, R. L., Brugal, J. P., Texier, P. J., Lenoble, A., & Feibel, C. S. (2011). An earlier origin for the Acheulian. Nature, 477(7362), 82–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malan, B. D., & Cooke, H. B. S. (1940). A preliminary account of the Wonderwerk Cave, Kuruman district. South African Journal of Science, 37, 300–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malan, B. D., & Wells, L. H. (1943). A further report on the Wonderwerk Cave, Kuruman. South African Journal of Science, 40, 258–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matmon, A., Ron, H., Chazan, M., Porat, N., & Horwitz, L. K. (2012). Reconstructing the history of sediment deposition in caves: A case study from Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 124(3–4), 611–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNabb, J., & Beaumont, P. (2012). Excavations in the Acheulean levels at the Earlier Stone Age site of Canteen Koppie, Northern Province, South Africa. In Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 78, (pp. 51–71).

  • McNabb, J., & Sinclair, A. (2009). The cave of hearths: Makapan Middle Pleistocene Research Project. Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, R., & Kramers, J. D. (2010). Re-appraisal of the stratigraphy and determination of new U-Pb dates for the Sterkfontein hominin site, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 59(1), 70–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porat, N., Chazan, M., Grün, R., Aubert, M., Eisenmann, V., & Horwitz, L. K. (2010). New radiometric ages for the Fauresmith industry from Kathu Pan, southern Africa: Implications for the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37(2), 269–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riddle, A. T., & Chazan, M. (2014). Stone tools from the inside out: Radial point distribution. World Archaeology, 46(1), 123–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roe, D. A. (1969). British Lower and Middle Palaeolithic handaxe groups. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (New Series), 34, 1–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schröder, S., Bedorf, D., Beukes, N. J., & Gutzmer, J. (2011). From BIF to red beds: Sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Paleoproterozoic Koegas Subgroup (South Africa). Sedimentary Geology, 236(1), 25–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, N. (1993). The structure of the Lower Pleistocene archaeological record: A case study from the Koobi Fora formation [and Comments by H. T. Bunn, E. M. Kroll, G. Haynes, S. McBrearty, J. Sept, and P. R. Willoughby, and Reply]. Current Anthropology, 34(3), 201–225.

  • Underhill, D. (2011). The study of the Fauresmith: A review. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 66(193), 15–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, J., & Chazan, M. (2012). Blade production ∼500 thousand years ago at Kathu Pan 1, South Africa: Support for a multiple origins hypothesis for early Middle Pleistocene blade technologies. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39(6), 1883–1900.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, J., Schoville, B. J., Brown, K. S., & Chazan, M. (2012). Evidence for early hafted hunting technology. Science, 338(6109), 942–946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Research at Wonderwerk Cave has been funded by grants from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, The Wenner-Gren Foundation, Victoria College at the University of Toronto, and the University of Toronto program for International Student Experience. All fieldwork has taken place under permit from the South African Heritage Resources Agency, and work on the collection is under the terms of agreement with the McGregor Museum. The analysis of stone tools builds on the contributions of the members of the Wonderwerk Research Project and the results of the excavations by Peter Beaumont. I am grateful to all involved. Alexandra Sumner assisted with the analysis of flakes and Liora Horwitz, Paul Goldberg, and two reviewers provided valuable feedback on an initial draft of this article. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Colin Fortune, David Morris, and the staff of the McGregor Museum for making this work possible and their overall support for our project. I would also like to thank the University of Toronto students who have assisted with the often tedious work of sorting through the collections.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell St., Toronto, ONT, M5S 2S2, Canada

    Michael Chazan

  2. Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa

    Michael Chazan

Authors
  1. Michael Chazan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Chazan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chazan, M. Technological Trends in the Acheulean of Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Afr Archaeol Rev 32, 701–728 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-015-9205-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-015-9205-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation